It seems like keeping pet is a trends for more and more people nowadays. Pets are very cute, so where should the shit go? There is such a kind of insect that has carried forward the great cause of eating dung for generations, and it is called "dung beetle". On the vast grasslands, we can always see some little things rolling home with their hind legs on the ball of shit. Their obsession with shit is as much as that of foodies.
What's Dung Beetle?
We have all seen the dung beetle. It is dressed in black armor and is called the "one-horned general". It has a shovel-shaped head, and the front and rear pairs of feet are well developed. It stands upside down and pushes the dung ball. They can eat feces, and the amount they eat is amazing. Their small bodies can clean up the feces on the entire African continent, and they have the reputation of "natural scavengers". Dung beetles eat feces is an ability passed down from their ancestors. In order to compete for feces, they often fight in groups and single-handedly. Some dung beetles are very interesting. They will follow an animal, hide on its tail, and wait for it to shit, just to jump on the dung for the first time to swear sovereignty.
How Dung Beetle Save Australia's livestock Industry?
It is precisely because of the excellent ability to eat shit that the environment of many countries has been saved. In Australia, where animal husbandry is the main industry, feces were once flooded, making it impossible for people to live normally, so that many types of dung beetles were specially introduced from other countries to eliminate the feces. Afterwards, the dung beetles showed their skills, and the feces that would have taken more than two months to decompose naturally were processed by a large number of dung beetles within two days, so that the grassland in Australia would not be flooded with a large amount of feces. After the dung beetle wiped out the local cow dung, 95% of the local mosquitoes disappeared, saving the outdoor catering industry that was almost on the verge of bankruptcy.
Why Australian Government Spends A lot to Import Dung Beetle?
Over the past few decades, Australia has imported dung beetles from foreign countries every once in a while. The reason is simple, the animal manure on their side, especially cow manure, is "flooding". As for the reason for the flooding of excrement in Tuao, it has to be traced back hundreds of years ago.
Historically, Australia was once a place where the British exiled prisoners. Later, British colonists came to Australia and found that it was also very suitable for raising cattle and sheep. So in the 18th century, the British colonists brought in a lot of cattle and sheep one after another, and gradually became the "main force" of the local animal husbandry. Just when those farmers were sitting at home drinking coffee and enjoying the joy of growing animal husbandry, a crisis came quietly. Farmers there found that the more and more cow dung piled up in their pastures, it not only smells bad, but the rotting cow dung may also pollute the environment; thus causing plants to not grow better, so there is not enough herbivorous animals Food to eat ultimately affects the development of animal husbandry.
In the matter of cleaning cow dung, humans usually clean up most of the dung, and the rest is slowly decomposed and absorbed by decomposers; for example, dung beetles are good dung "cleaners". They can push the animal waste away to avoid polluting the environment.
Could it be that there is no dung beetle in Australia, which leads to the "flooding" of manure? In fact, there are also native dung beetles in Australia, with more than 400 species. Before the British colonists came, the local dung beetles in Tuao could also clean up animal feces.
But after the colonists came, the situation changed a bit. The aboriginal dung beetles in Australia don’t like cow dung; human cleaning can’t cover everything, which eventually leads to the accumulation of cow dung.
It's all dung, why is cow dung disgusted by Australian dung beetles? As we all know, Australia is an independent continent. The kangaroos, wombats and koalas living on it are all marsupials unique to Australia. Their feces are dry and hard. During the long natural selection, the local dung beetles gradually adapted to the taste of marsupial feces and formed a unique "eating habit". The traditional taste of aboriginal dung beetles is the feces of animals such as kangaroos and koalas; however, the feces pulled out by foreign cattle and cows are very watery and sticky. This is an unacceptable taste for the aboriginal dung beetles who are accustomed to eating traditional Australian dung, and it is very laborious to clean up. Dung balls with a lot of water are heavier and more laborious to roll; when Australian dung beetles go to roll up cow dung, they fail to make a ball for a long time, and even make themselves covered in "papa".
Therefore, in this case, the foreign dung is unpalatable to the Australian dung beetle and is not welcome. Dung beetles don't clean up the cow dung. After a long time, the cow dung in Australia will pile up into mountains.
In order to clean up the "flooding" cow dung, the Australian government brought in 43 species of non-local dung beetles from South Africa, France, China and other countries. Dung beetles from foreign countries, the traditional taste is cow dung. Their introduction has given the Australian people the hope of eliminating the manure piles.
However, due to the different environment and climate in Australia, foreign dung beetles cannot adapt to the new environment, and it is difficult to establish a population. They need to be replenished regularly to prevent them from dying out. It is said that importing 1,500 dung beetles from foreign countries will cost the Australian government $400.
photo from inews.gtimg.com
By burying and consuming the dung, dung beetles help to prevent the build-up of fly populations, which can spread disease and parasites to livestock. Additionally, the dung beetles' tunneling and burrowing activities help to aerate and enrich the soil, improving its structure and fertility. This can lead to healthier pastures, which can in turn support healthier livestock. Overall, the introduction of dung beetles has been beneficial to the livestock industry in Australia, helping to improve the health and productivity of the animals and the land they graze on.
There are several dung beetle suppliers in Australia who specialize in supplying beetles to farmers, and an initial population of 1,500 can cost $400, with rarer species running as high as $600 to $800. As we all know, ecological crises caused by invasive species in Australia are very common. For example, rabbits, camels, etc. are all overrun here, so is it possible for dung beetles to create a new crisis? What do you think?
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